ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR AMENITY 299 



for a time rove the country as though they were of its 

 denizens. In a few cases, hardy creatures such as Red and 

 Grey Squirrels have succeeded in establishing themselves, but 

 as a rule, "escapes" leave no trace upon the native fauna. 

 The Smooth or Ringed Snake (Tropidonotus natrix) has 

 been found at large many times, in the suburbs of Edinburgh, 

 in the neighbourhood of Paisley, in the woods of Carluke, 

 Lanarkshire, bat there is no reason to believe that the 

 apparently native specimens were other than escapes, or 

 that, in spite of its opportunities, the Ringed Snake has 

 ever become established with us. 



So also it has been with the favourites of the bird- 

 fancier, the Baltimore Oriole, the Canary, the White-throated 

 Sparrow, all of which having at one time or another escaped 

 from confinement have spent a short life, if not a merry one, 

 in freedom in Scottish localities. The escape from ornamental 

 ponds of Ducks, such as the Muscovy and Summer, of 

 Geese, as the Spurvvinged, Chinese and Canada, of Demoi- 

 selle and Crowned Cranes, and many others, also frequently 

 occurs, but, except for the Canada Goose, established at Loch 

 Leven, Loch Lomond and elsewhere, the venturers have 

 never succeeded in making good a footing. 



A NEW MOTIVE 



Man has caused many an unpremeditated injury through 

 his rash and thoughtless introduction of new animals, but it 

 has been left to a Falconer of Shetland to furnish the soli- 

 tary example of deliberate ill-intent. 



"There are no Weasels in all the northern Isles of Zetland, as I am informed," 

 wrote Brand in his careless style, " tho' numerous in the mainland, which 

 they report thus came to pass : The Falconer having a Power given him to 

 get a Hen out of every House, once in the Year; but one Year they refusing 

 or not being so willing to give, The Falconer out of Revenge, brought the 

 next year two Weasels with him, which did generate and spread, so that now 

 they are become very destructive to several goods of the Inhabitants, whereof 

 a Gentleman our Informer told us he had killed several half an Ell long." 



This importation of the seventeenth century, the Stoat and 

 not the Weasel as Brand alleges, is said still to be repre- 

 sented in the Shetlands, although in the Orkneys where it 

 was likewise dumped, it has disappeared. 



Whether the story be true or not, the deliberate result is 

 on a par with the results of many thoughtless introductions of 



